San Francisco averages 1 car break-in every 17 minutes

SAN FRANCISCO (Tara Moriarty/KTVU) - Every 17 minutes a car is betting broken into in San Francisco. And in just the past year, the number of auto-break ins increased by nearly 25 percent.

Today city supervisors are teaming up with SFPD Police Chief Bill Scott to roll out a new plan aimed at curbing property crime.

"We are notoriously known as the City of Broken Glass," said Supervisor Norman Yee.

It's a cringe worthy reputation for San Franciscans. There were about four car break-ins every hour in 2017.

"It doesn't happen in other cities and it shouldn't be happening in San Francisco," said Supervisor Hillary Ronen. "Whatever we've been doing do far, is not working."

That's why today Ronen and Yee announced a board resolution to team up with Chief Scott to crack down on the property crime epidemic by assigning each district station a plainclothes team to conduct its own operations.

"We believe that this will compliment the foot patrols deployed in the citywide effort to arrest and prosecute organized crime rings," said Yee. 

Crime statistics show that in 2017, about 30,000 people had their cars broken into. If you compare that number to 2012, it's more than double the amount in 2012, when there were only around 13,000 break-ins.

"In 70 percent of the cases, property was visible when cars were broken into," said Capt Robert Yick of Taraval Station.

SFPD has been ramping up its Park Smart campaign which reminds folks not to leave valuables in their cars. 

Many in law enforcement have blamed the crime uptick on Proposition 47, which re-categorized some non-violent offenses as misdemeanors. They claim it made it easier for serial car burglars to re-offend with little or no penalty. That's why critics of Prop 47 say the courts, probation and the District Attorney's Office need to work more hand in hand with police."

"We can't control what happens in the courts we can't control what happens at the District Attorney level but we can give them the best case that we can give them," said Chief Scott. 

Police and city officials say they're curious to look at the property crime stats six months from now.

Only then will they be able to see if their new strategies have had an impact.